NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Role of CN at sea, was Re: Averaging sights ...
From: Herbert Prinz
Date: 2004 Oct 12, 18:00 -0400
From: Herbert Prinz
Date: 2004 Oct 12, 18:00 -0400
Lisa Fiene wrote: > We're planning a passage to the Louisiades next season and yes, we'll be > taking our morning noon and twilight sights also, plotting them on our > sheets, checking our position against the GPS. Our attitude is that the > GPS is a backup, not the other way around. I do not see how one can maintain this attitude in the face of reality. In my admittedly very limited experience of ten thousand off shore miles over the last ten years I have not ONCE been in a situation where GPS didn't work, but cel nav would. In fact, I have not once been in a situation at sea where GPS didn't work. Full stop. But I have REPEATEDLY been in situations where celestial was unavailable for several days in a row and GPS was the only position finding tool available. Conclusion: Celestial is not even a backup! Herbert Prinz
